On November 19, 2020, Court Whitman released season 2, episode 42 of High Performance Pathways, with Michael J. Penney as his guest. The episode title introduces him as a US Marine veteran, speaker, author and advisor to 5Paragraph.com. At an hour and 36 minutes, it is one of the longest conversations in his archive.
About the show
Whitman built the show on one-on-one interviews about how people understand, chase and find high performance in their own lives. The show’s premise is that everyone has a different pathway. Many of its guests were military veterans. The show also made a point of being raw: episodes went out as recorded, with no post-production editing.
That format suited Michael. A long, unedited conversation leaves room for the whole story, from the infantry to the business he built after it.
What the episode covered
The episode notes are short. They open with a line from Michael:
[You] were created to be VICTORIOUS.
Michael J. Penney, as quoted in the High Performance Pathways episode notes
In full, the quote in the notes says you were never created to live depressed, defeated, guilty, condemned, ashamed or unworthy. The host called it “a must listen-to show.” The notes then send listeners to two places: Michael’s LinkedIn profile and his website, 5paragraph.com.
Why it mattered then
November 2020 closed out a full year of guest appearances. In the months before this episode he had talked about the 5 Paragraph method on Time To Shine Today, the Courageous Recovery Podcast, A New Direction and Life Transformation Radio. That last one came out exactly one week earlier.
The line Whitman picked for the notes is not about business plans. It is about refusing to live defeated, the same thread that runs back to his 2016 TEDxRaleigh talk on adding value in explosive situations.
His service record: eight-plus years in Marine Corps infantry and three combat tours: two to Ramadi, Iraq, with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (2005-06 and 2007), and one to Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan, with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in 2011, where he led a section of advisors. Between those tours he served at Quantico as a weapons instructor. He left the Corps as a Sergeant with an honorable discharge.
Where to find it
The episode is still on Buzzsprout and Apple Podcasts. The player above streams the original file from the show’s feed.
This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.
Work with Michael
Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.